LMHC, 13 years of experience
New to Grow
I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Washington and began my education at the University of Washington receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology. I went on to receive a Master of Arts Degree in Clinical Psychology from Argosy University in Seattle, Washington. After spending 8 years in the United States Army, I felt I could continue to serve my community and country by more intimately assisting those in need. I wanted to first understand "why do people do the things they do?" and second, learn how to help those people use their freedom to enjoy the life they want to live. I have worked in the mental health and social services field since 2008 with experiences that range from being a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children, a Behavioral Support Specialist for youth with disabilities and at-risk youth, a Child and Family Therapist, and an Adult Therapist for adults with serious (chronic) mental illness and substance use. I have been in private practice since 2019 continuing to help individuals and families with a variety of mental health needs.
Our first session will be a mixture of sharing information between client and therapist; not only for myself to get to know the client, but for client to get to know and understand what to expect from me as their therapist.
While I am direct and to the point most of the time, I also believe highly in validation and creating a space without judgement. I want my client to know that I am a regular individual, just like them, I just happen to specialize in understanding human behavior and how to teach others to take control of their minds to live the life they want to live.
I am best positioned to serve clients who are invested in their own healing. While I believe it is important to go at the client's pace, building a trusting relationship is essential, individuals who are willing to do the written and physical work outside of session to maximize effective change in their lives, will be most successful.
I work with the client at client's pace, to learn and utilize dialectical behavior therapy [DBT] coping strategies via DBT skills training manual covering the four major components; mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance.
I use the basic tenets of cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT] to assist clients in connecting thoughts, behaviors, emotions and feelings to specific problematic situations. Then guide the client in identifying ineffective thinking or action behaviors, learning complimentary coping strategies, and successfully implementing the strategies to effect change.
For clients experiencing lingering symptoms of trauma, I use cognitive processing therapy [CPT] techniques to aid client in understanding how their thinking may be distorted from the trauma experience and learn coping strategies to help identify these cognitive distortions 'stuck points' and implement coping skills to alleviate symptoms.